Tom Noonan expects 'banner year' for Visit Baltimore

Visit Baltimore is aiming to book 500,000 future room nights during 2014. That may seem a big hurdle until you talk with the city tourism group’s CEO Tom Noonan.

Noonan is predicting that as hotel occupancy and room rates recover, this year will be a stronger year for Baltimore’s convention industry and the hotels that rely on it.

Baltimore’s 2014 convention season will be marked by a revival of math, science and technology meetings, sprinkled with large-scale city events in the gaps between. Many of this year’s big citywide conventions scheduled for Baltimore return annually, but the city will also see a few sizeable newcomers on the schedule. The American Society for Mass Spectrometry conference, for one, will account for nearly 20,000 room nights in June.

“Overall I’m just happy that we’re seeing a lot more medical, a lot more science and technology, and that’s reflective of the Baltimore marketplace and the industries we have in Baltimore,” Noonan said. “This is a very reflective year of the kind of business that Visit Baltimore wants to bring to town.”

With 11,000 expected attendees, the Mid-Atlantic Nursery Trade Show from Jan. 8-10 marked the city’s fist large citywide convention of the year. Citywide conventions are those that hold their meetings at the Baltimore Convention Center and account for room blocks in multiple hotels.

While strong citywide conventions are scheduled throughout the year, major city events will also help fill down time — and hotel rooms — between them. This year, Baltimore will play host to Star-Spangled Spectacular, the Army-Navy football game, the NCAA Lacrosse Final Four and the CAA Men’s Basketball Championship.

“I think this is really going to be a banner year for Baltimore tourism overall,” Noonan said.

Although most major conventions schedule their meetings five to seven years in advance, Noonan said Visit Baltimore has seen more small- to medium-sized meetings booking during a shortened window — anywhere from two to five years before the event.

Those short-term bookings also help Baltimore fill hotel rooms between events that were scheduled far in the future.